Monday, February 22, 2016

Waffles & Eggs with Creamy Sage Sauce #SecretRecipeClub

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal day for my group, Group D!
What is Secret Recipe Club? It's a bunch of food bloggers separated
into four groups that post once a month on a designated Monday. Each
month, we are paired with another foodie from our group secretly (hence
the name). We then pick a recipe (or two or more) from that blog and
make it. On our reveal day, we reveal whose blog we had and what
recipe(s) we chose all at the same time. It's like a Secret Santa every
month, but with food and blogs! It's a great deal of fun :)

Today, I am sharing a recipe from one of my "newer" members, Wendy. Wendy and her husband, Frank, are retired cops that moved from the big city to a farm with 12 acres of land. They raise lots of animals and participate in their local Community Sponsored Agriculture program. Wendy is a great storyteller and posts a variety of topics on her blog, not exclusive to some wonderful recipes. I love reading her posts and love having her in Group D! You can find out more about her and her family: here.

In the end, I couldn't stop thinking about Wendy's Waffles Benedict with Creamy Sage Sauce. I have never poached eggs and I rarely eat eggs with runny yolks unless I'm really craving them, so I modified the recipe and made a fried egg. I recently cleaned out my spices and tossed those that were past their "best by" date - p.s. it's a good idea to look at your dates on your spices because they lose their oomph after a while. I ended up not having ground mustard OR rubbed sage in my pantry. Thankfully, I had a pack of fresh poultry herbs that contained sage that was still in decent shape. I was going to put 1/4 a teaspoon of ground mustard with a teaspoon or so of honey in place of the honey mustard in the original recipe. I still used honey, but also did a squirt of just plain yellow mustard. My last modification was to use some ham steak that I had in my fridge instead of deli sliced ham. :)

All-in-all, this recipe turned out SO WELL! The waffles were amazing - cheese, ham, and sage in them...YES!!! I also could not get enough of that creamy sage sauce. It was hard for me to not grab the ladle and sip the sauce right out of it. I had a little leftover and I think I may fry up an egg and toast a piece of bread and serve the sauce over the top of it. My mom used to make creamed eggs and the creamy sage sauce really reminded me of that. Thank you, Wendy, for sharing such an incredible recipe!!

1/2 small ham steak, finely diced (divided - half will be used in the waffle mix)

For the waffles:

1/2 cup buttermilk pancake mix

1/3 cup milk

1 egg

1 Tbsp. salted butter, melted

1 tsp. fresh chopped sage - or - pinch of rubbed sage

1/4 cup shredded cheddar jack cheese

For the eggs:

1 Tbsp. salted butter

1 to 2 eggs

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Make your sauce first by combining half-and-half, honey, mustard, pepper, sage, and cornstarch into a small saucepan. Whisk until smooth. Cook, stirring often, until thickened

Meanwhile, place your finely diced ham steak into a small skillet over medium to medium-high heat. Cook until browned slightly - stirring occasionally. Set aside, saving the skillet for your eggs.

For the waffles: whisk all ingredients together using only half of your cooked ham. Coat your preheated waffle iron with nonstick cooking spray and then pour half the batter into the iron and cook according to your waffle iron's instructions. Repeat with the second half of the batter.

When you start cooking your second waffle, add ham and cheese into your sauce. Whisk until cheese melts. Turn to low and simmer until serving.

Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in small skillet used to cook ham over medium high heat. Add an egg and break the yolk. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until lightly browned on each side. Repeat with your second egg.

I try my hardest to give credit where credit is due. If I don't know the source, I mark it as "source unknown". Please feel free to contact me if you know where the recipe originates. I hope that everyone is making sure to cite sources because the fantastical minds behind recipes really deserve credit for them :)

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